Hidden Potential
by little folly
Summary: In hope to improve her power Lucy travels to the spirit realm but is there for longer than she intended, leaving Natsu restless and yearning for her return and that is when the real adventure begins! Nalu with sprinkles of other pairings.
1. A Budding Journey

An alcoholic haze wafted lazily through Fairy Tail's brand new guild, now two weeks since their Grand Magic Games victory and the celebrations were only just beginning to settle down. A fortnight of the most reckless partying in guild history had started the moment they flung open the shiny new guild doors. The townsfolk and fans were excited and somewhat scared to join the bizarre and destructive festivities of their new heroes, however their inhibitions were soon put to rest with the free-flowing alcohol and the infectious energy of the mages. It wasn't long before lasting friendships were forged between them and the mages of Fairy Tail; magic and non-magic users now united in a way they never had been before. In the mornings the guests would leave thoroughly exhausted while the Fairy Tail mages buzzed on through the days with interviews, photo shoots and appearances. The constant clamour had now subsided to a general buzz of animated chatter from familiar and unfamiliar faces that filled the main hall. It seemed as if the last two weeks were finally taking their toll on the insane mages of Fairy Tail. The request board was now 3-papers-thick with jobs, and a majority of them requested specific mages that were admired from the games.

Mira was currently organising the requests into piles based on the mages whose talents were sought after. She thought to herself that she may need to add a "mage requested" column to her request record book in addition to the "date received", "requester", "request", "reward", "completed by" and "date completed" columns.

Erza's request pile was in the lead, with Natsu and Gajeel's not far behind.

'Tch, why does Erza have more requests than me?' Natsu grumbled.

'Because you have a reputation for destroying the cities that you take requests in!' Lucy huffed, knowing all too well of Natsu's talent for whittling away request rewards.

'Yeah you sure demonstrated that when you destroyed the stadium floor in your match against the twin dragons, dumbass!' Gray snickered.

'Hey that was Sting's fault! But I could have easily done it too!' Natsu retaliated.

'That's exactly the problem!' Lucy butted in but was long forgotten from the conversation as flame and ice flickered and morphed around the rival mages. Natsu was omitting a childish snarl with flecks of spittle flinging onto Gray's face and sizzling against his cold skin.

'Pity your hot spit has better accuracy than your chaotic attacks!'

'Hey I don't see you defeating real-life dragons ice-prick!'

'Only because you hid behind Atlas Flame's legs like a little baby!'

'Baby? You were the one losing to baby dragons!'

With that Natsu burst into a fit of laughter but Gray was frozen still in remembrance of that battle. He looked down, put his hands in his pockets and risked a quick glance over to Juvia. Ever since her glimpse at Gray's death Juvia had been keeping a distance from him by avoiding the parties and only working on solo missions. When she _was_ there he got the occasional furtive glance from her but she would always look pained, guilty even. The seven-dragons battle signified a victory laced with many painful memories of what-may-have-been for some mages of Fairy Tail, and none more so than the memory shared by Gray and Juvia.

Natsu, having not gotten the verbal (or physical) backlash that he was expecting from Gray, looked to see his friend with a strange dumb look on his face.

'Idiot what's wrong with _you_?!' He asked as he closely inspected Gray's glazed expression. He got no answer; instead Gray began to walk away without so much as a glance back at the befuddled young dragon slayer.

Meanwhile a crowd had gathered to watch Mira as she placed each request upon its respective pile. Each careful placement was met with loud cheering or booing while Cana shouted out the betting odds for the mage with the most requests, punctuated with loud gulps of ale. The equally inebriated punters took no notice of how haphazardly her odds were changing: one minute Erza 5:1 and Natsu 1:40, the next minute Erza 1:100 and Natsu 100:1. Along with the piles, jewel upon jewel stacked up in Cana's ample till which uncannily resembled a blue bikini top. Amid this chaos little notice was taken of the guild's master who sat on the edge of the bar with his head leaning in one palm. His eyes were closed, lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed as he seriously pondered over Erza's lead (he had placed a significant bet on Natsu). When it finally came to him he jumped to his feet and raised his arm in excitement, 'I've got it!' he proclaimed. He was not loud enough to be heard over the general buzz however the guild became deafeningly quiet but for a few echoes of the previous chatter. All faces turned to the little master. Lucy noticed that his pose resembled the popular Fairy Tail stance that had an eerie way of gaining the attention of all those with the guild's stamp. Realising that he now held everyone's attention Macarov thought he might as well enlighten them.

'It's because she has breasts,' he declared and brought down his arm to point directly at Erza where she sat. All heads rubbernecked in the direction he pointed, saw the guild's Titania then rebounded back to the master in confusion.

'The reason she gets the most requests,' he clarified, very pleased with himself.

Eyes locked back on Erza, a few chins dragging along the floor. With bated breath they awaited her reaction to this blatant disregard of her unrivalled skill. She had been sitting amongst the guild's chaos, slowly devouring a slice of strawberry cake the size of her head, largely unfazed by the unofficial request competition. She took the master's words into consideration, then with a slow nod of her head and an agreeable 'mmm,' she concurred.

The onlookers collapsed in disbelief.

'You are very perceptive master,' she began, 'my armours are specifically designed to complement my feminine figure in order to attract more clients, allow me to demonstrate.' The Titania stood up and ex-quipped into her famous Heaven's Wheel armour.

'As you can see the breast plate reveals an ample amount of the bosom, this armour is mostly used for long range attacks so the exposed area is not at much risk of damage like it would be in close-range combat.'

Most of the guild members were now ogling the mage as she began to run through the specifications of her entire armour inventory. Natsu was confused as to why Erza bothered; she just looked scary in whatever armour she wore. Beside him Macao and Wakaba were talking in hushed tones without taking their eyes off the spectacle and Natsu decided to listen in. 'This is my favourite, she looks like a true dominatrix,' Wakaba said as Erza donned her Black Wing armour, to which Macao replied, 'she can dominate me any day!' they both laughed. What this meant Natsu had no clue, only that they said it in the way that all perverted things are said. When he asked them what a dominatrix was it only made them laugh more. The two adults didn't look like they were going to finish laughing any time soon so Natsu left having become annoyed and bored.

All the while Lucy was amused by the whole situation; she often found she was the only one to see the humour in the Titania's tendency to take things literally. In times like these Lucy felt like she was looking down at characters in one of her narratives, as she seemed the only one to grasp the ironies and subtleties of the scene before her. As she watched Erza Lucy envied her impregnable confidence. For mages such as Erza, Natsu, Gajeel and Gray, fighting ran in their blood, whereas for her it was more of a means to an end. She felt a slight pang of jealousy that even a dunce like Natsu had such a natural fighting intelligence, when she would have to stay up all night to plan fighting strategies half as good as his. She yearned to join them, up in their own class of power that gave them the freedom of impulsivity and recklessness.

As she placed the last request onto Natsu's pile Mira was glad that Erza had momentarily diverted the guild's attention; the boy-dragon's pile had caught up with Erza's so she knew the punters would insist she counted them a dozen times over. Instead she took her chance to duck out of the crowd for a quick break. In doing this she saw the only face not glued to Erza and walked over to her.

'Lucy is anything wrong?'

The celestial mage looked to Mira and put on a smile, 'Erza has such a natural talent, just like Natsu and Gray, it's like they were born with it,' Lucy sighed, she only meant for this to convey her genuine admiration for her friends but Mira could sense the underlying despondency.

'None of them were born with it,' she assured Lucy, 'Erza worked hard at her powers because of the guilt of leaving her friends at the Tower of Heaven, Natsu trained relentlessly with his father, and Gray put all of his heart into his magic in hope to avenge Deloria for destroying his homeland. And it may not look like training but they've all been fighting each other since they met because they found worthy opponents that they could learn from.'

'Oh, of course you're right! I don't know what I was thinking,' Lucy laughed awkwardly, Mira nodded and swished back behind the bar to pour herself something strong before returning to the daunting piles of paper.

Lucy couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed for thinking all of those silly thoughts; of course they weren't all born with their skills. She resolved to stop making excuses. It was up to her to train harder than ever before so she could fight without fear, side-by-side with her teammates. The thought got Lucy all fired up. At that moment she felt a familiar warm weight thump across her shoulders.

'Oya Lucy what are you doing sitting by yourself?'

'Natsu! I've decided I'm going to train hard so I can get as good as you and Erza!'

The immediate image to enter Nastu's mind was Lucy in heavy armour waving around a sword with fire spurting from her mouth.

'Scaaary,' he shuddered.

'Don't think weird thoughts!' Lucy shouted at him.

Brushing the terrifying image away he remembered something; 'aw yeah we never finished our training before the games, I know! I'll train you! It will be Natsu-sensei's boot camp from hell! We'll have fire-pits, fire-rings, fire-balls, fire-works, hot coals, fire-spirals, fire-rain, that's when I shoot fire balls down from the sky, fire rings.'

'You already said fire-rings!' Lucy didn't quite see the appeal of Natsu's training regime, 'you know I think I'll just ask Caprico again, he was the one that helped my mother train, he'll know how to make me strong.'

'Mmmm, sounds boring,' Natsu rested his chin on her shoulder.

'You don't have to come, in fact I think it would be good for me to train alone with my spirits.'

This didn't really sit right with Natsu; they were a team and they should stick together, but after he voiced this concern Lucy remained obstinate.

'Natsu this is a journey I feel like I need to take by myself to really get to know my spirits and learn more about my powers.'

'Ok if it's that important to you then you should do it, but don't take too long,' he huffed.

'Mmmm,' Lucy nodded her head. Her heart was beating fast with the prospect of it all. There was fear for going on an adventure without her teammates, excitement for forming stronger bonds with all of her spirits, there was a strange pulse of loneliness when she pictured Natsu, but ultimately her heart beat passionately for the new Lucy she would become.

* * *

><p>That afternoon, after telling everyone of her plans, Lucy stood in front of her door and reached for the one normal key that always looked out of place amongst her ornate spirit ones. Unlocking the door she entered her cosy apartment. At that moment she saw the room with a dizzying clarity. The afternoon light coming through the window was bright and illuminated hundreds of tiny dust particles in two beams separated by the wooden window panel. The edges of her furnishings seemed sharper and the room felt strangely small, as if it couldn't contain this expanding feeling she had. The last time she had felt this euphoric sense of clarity and resolution was a hard moment to forget; it was the moment she decided to run away from home.<p>

She breathed in deeply.

'Open, gate of the ram,' she felt the familiar gust of wind as the spirit materialised from the spirit realm.

'How meh I be of service Lucy-sama?'

'Please Caprico I want to become much stronger so I can learn to fight without fear,' she looked at him with a determination that he recognised from his time in Layla's service. He realised she was now ready to take the next step in her journey as a celestial spirit mage.

'Ah, there is a limit to what I can teach you, if you wish to progress faster I have heard of an extremely powerful celestial spirit mage that has been able to unlock the true power of all of his spirits. Even his silver-key spirits found strength that many of us gold-key spirits couldn't imagine.'

'Whoa sounds amazing! I didn't know such a celestial mage existed,' said Lucy.

'Yes well he has retired from his guild and works as a freelance mage so he is quite difficult to track down. I gather that he also has a habit of lending a few of his spirits to villages in need until they can pick themselves up again.'

'That seems a bit reckless to me,' Lucy pondered.

'It is a little peculiar but he always returns to them and knows that they are strong enough to fend for themselves if anything goes awry, hmmmm.'

'What is it?' Lucy asked.

'I am simply thinking of how you meh find him, I meh have to ask the Spirit King where he his,' Caprico reasoned.

'Oh please let me come with you! I would love to go to the spirit realm again.'

'My lady I could but you must remember the difference in time flow.'

'Hmmm, well, if I'm only gone for say one hour… let's see… based on the last time we were there… that would be around,' Lucy took a moment to do the arithmetic whilst tapping her chin with her index finger, 'four days in our world, that would be alright, I might even get to avoid the guild clean-up from all of our parties!'

'As you see it my lady. It is an honour that you would dedicate your time to visit us in the realm we proudly call home.'

'All right!' she pumped her fist.

She spent the rest of the evening advising her spirits of her visit, all of whom were very excited and agreed to inform those that she could not call out on that day. Virgo thought the hour would be best spent undergoing some sort of punishment and Taurus wanted to choose the spirit realm clothes that would permit Lucy's entry. Caprico sensibly advised Horologium to teach Lucy about the complicated dimension of time and how it differed between the mortal and spirit realms. It was the first time Lucy heard Horologium talk so much. He began in such a way that Lucy felt like they could be there for a while; his eyes were closed and he had one finger raised in the air like a shy student answering a question.

'Lucy-sama it must be understood that time as a quantifiable entity is an unfamiliar concept in the spirit realm. There is no night and day, there are no weeks and there are no years. For us spiritual beings time is not something you can count out with hands on a clock or sand in an hourglass. Our understanding of time is that your mortal realm is dictated by what we call "Chronos", and ours by "Kairos". That is to say your world follows time as a sequence of events whereas we are guided by opportune moments that we respond to. For us time is defined by the moments that occur as we interact with events in the spirit realm and more importantly the moments that call us into the mortal realm,' he went to continue but Lucy interrupted him.

'Wait, but what about what Virgo said, that one day in the spirit world equals three months in my world? How did she know it was one spirit realm day if you can't measure time?' Lucy's head was spinning.

'She must have been trying to simplify things, we cannot know how long we were in the spirit realm that time, only that the event equated to three months of mortal time.'

This posed quite an issue if Lucy didn't want the same thing to happen as when they lost three months of their training camp, heck she'd already missed out on seven years of time in Earthland.

'So if we can't measure how much time we are using while I'm in the spirit realm how can we stop me from missing out on too much Earthland time?'

'Well, I propose that I stay in the mortal realm for the four days that you agreed upon and then I will come and alert you when you must come back. On the other hand your objective may take very little mortal time in which case you will be the one returning to me.'

'Ah! That's a great idea, are you sure you'll be okay in our realm for four whole days?'

'Yes very sure, my power has increased significantly as you have been improving your magic, four days will be easy if I do not strain myself.'

'Well alright, if that is okay with you, thank you so much Horologium you have always been there for me in tricky situations like these!'

Two pink circles appeared at the three and nine o'clock positions of his face, 'it is my honour Lucy-sama, just call me out when you are ready to come to our realm,' he was about to vanish before things got too sentimental but Lucy had one last question that came to her.

'Horologium, if you can't measure time in the spirit world then why do you, a clock, come from that world?'

'Oh, well, as you know, we are manifestations of the magic of the stars so when I am in the spirit realm you can see me as a constellation in the night sky. For centuries mortals looked up at my constellation and began associating me with "Chronos", or "time", so my celestial magic eventually took the form of a pendulum clock.'

'How interesting! Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow then.' Horologium sighed in relief as he disappeared; one second longer and he may have burst from embarrassment from telling the precious Lucy-sama his life's story.

That night Lucy looked out her window up to the stars shining in the sky and thought of all of her amazing spirits. She dreamt of the spirit realm in all of its splendour and shine, only there was one thing stopping it from being perfect. In her dream state Lucy felt a slight sense of coldness, or maybe it was not so much coldness but a lack of warmth, a feeling of something missing. It lingered just below the thin membrane separating the conscious from the subconscious so she could never quite grasp the essence of it. She awoke the next morning with no recollections of her dream but the indistinguishable feeling remained. She put it down to nerves and began preparing for her adventure.

* * *

><p>She arrived at Fairy Tail early in the morning, as she was eager to quickly notify her friends of her four-day absence and be on her way. The sight she was welcomed with was nothing unusual to her. The mages and commoners were sprawled out on the floor in piles of limbs and snoring faces. Mira was gliding around the floorboards with a mop humming, not making any effort to stop the mop from sloshing into the comatose party-goers' faces. Lucy giggled as she felt like she was seeing just a glimpse of Mira's demon side peeking through her angel-like persona.<p>

'Ah Lucy!' Mira exclaimed, 'how are your training plans coming along?'

'Well I'm going to go to the spirit realm just for a little while to learn where I can find a very strong celestial spirit mage.'

'How wonderful, just don't forget about the time difference.'

'Mmmm don't worry I've got that all figured out!'

Lucy had a quick scan around the guild and took no time to spot her partner's spiky pink peaks. He lay on his back and his head rested on Droy's soft pudgy thigh, which made her wonder whether he picked whom he would pass out on. This question was answered when she inspected the rest of his body. The hem of his pants and boxers were caught on a nail and were now halfway down his bottom on one side. Lucy figured he must have been lying on the floor and then dragged himself up to rest his head on Droy. Her gaze lingered over his exposed lower abdomen where she saw the top of some course darker pink hairs. She hated to admit that her partner looked fairly sensual when he was exposed like this. Heavens above she thought she was over this phase of being attracted to Natsu, but then she is given this visual. She couldn't help but follow the taut pelvic muscles as they descended into the region that was so unknown to her. She was at the age when she was beginning to hear stories from her drunken friends (mostly Cana) about sexual encounters and her current view was surely bringing some of those stories to the forefront, now featuring Natsu's body. Although truthfully she could only picture his body doing those things to her, when it came to his face she could only imagine his immature antics; something like 'whoo I'm riding Lucy kakakakaka!' as he spanked her hard on the behind. That was enough to stop her thoughts in their tracks.

Natsu awoke to the distinct smell of Lucy and when he opened his eyes there she was, looking very intently as his stomach.

'Ohayou Lucy,' he said groggily as he scratched over the area that she had been inspecting.

'Ah!' Lucy sprung up quickly, praying that Natsu hadn't caught her in her brief moment of virginal curiosity, 'ohayou!'

Natsu slowly hauled himself up and did up his loose belt. Something provocative about this action made Lucy choke on her own spit.

'You alright, weirdo?'

After she finished coughing and gaining her composure she got down to business.

'Natsu I'm going to be away for four days, I'm just going to talk to the Spirit King about where I can find a very strong celestial spirit mage to train me.'

'I'll come with you,' he stated as if it was a given fact. For one heart beat Lucy felt that indeterminate feeling she woke with dissipate with the thought that she could just bring Natsu with her. However her passionate vision of her own personal quest overcame that thought and she stayed firm.

'I told you yesterday I want to do this myself and it will just be talking. You wouldn't want to waste four Earthland days listening to me talk with the Spirit King, would you?'

Natsu thought that did sound very boring when he could just stay here and fight bad guys for four days instead. Though he did think it a little odd that she was so adamant to go by herself; things are so much more fun when your best friends are with you.

'Yeah okay say hi to moustache man for me then!'


	2. Timeless

With all matters in order it was time for Lucy to be on her way. She stood resolutely in the centre of her small apartment, barely able to contain her excitement about embarking on this journey that will unlock her full potential.

'Open, gate of the clock!' she recited.

Horologium appeared with his usual solemn expression that failed to convey the pride he felt in being of use to Lucy. He proceeded to equip Lucy with her celestial realm clothes including a tight leather bodice in purple with gold spiralling patterns. Underneath this was a white-gold dress that frilled over the top of the bodice with two short sleeves that hung off her shoulders. The frills continued at the bottom of the bodice to barely cover her behind. Intricate gold cuffs encircled her upper arms and black sandals weaved up her leg to the knee.

Before she knew it, and without a chance to say goodbye to Horologium, she was on the iridescent circular portal of the spirit realm surrounded by her beloved spirits. The magic of the stars pulsed through the place; balls of shining light floated and danced through the air leaving behind trails of stardust that slowly sank down to the floor. They all hugged and exchanged greetings quickly before heading off to see the Spirit King, as they were unsure when the Clock would appear to take Lucy away. They met with the Spirit King in the open-air atrium that Lucy recognised as the place where they partied on her last visit.

The king sat in a giant glass throne and his face broke into an enormous grin as he saw Lucy and her troupe approach. 'Ah here comes a truly special celestial mage,' he thought to himself, 'she hasn't yet scratched the surface of the enormous potential I can see within her.'

'Ah Lucy I heard you were coming to see me, how I can help my favourite little mage?'

'Well I've been told that there's a very powerful celestial spirit mage who can help me get stronger, and I was hoping that you could tell me where I could find him.'

'AHA yes! I know the one you are talking about, yes, I have some history with that one but that's a story for another time. His name is Marlo Aberfoyle, you know I try to keep a track of him as much as I can through his spirits but it is mighty hard when he keeps them so busy in the mortal realm!'

Lucy wanted to know the Spirit King's connection with this incredible mage but it sounded like a long story that she may not have the time for.

'So do you know where he might be?'

'Last time I heard of him he was in the northern mountains of Stella helping a small village dig their homes out of a mile of snow after a huge avalanche, but who knows where he is now. He has this incorrigible impulse to rush to the aid of anyone in need so he often leaves his spirits to finish any business that he started.'

The king said this in such an admiring tone that she could see that he deeply respected this mage, but there was a slight hint of longing and regret in his voice.

The Spirit King closed his eyes and seemed to briefly meditate.

'Ah what good timing, I sense that one of his spirits has just returned, she will know where he is, Cetus over there will give you all a ride to her home!'

Without a moment's thought they were all scooped up onto the giant whale Cetus' back and he took off into the endless expanse of stars, though little did they know that Horologium had just entered the spirit realm to inform her that her time was already up.

* * *

><p>Natsu lay on his back on the grass at his favourite fishing spot wondering what Lucy was up to in the spirit realm with all of her funny spirits. Happy lay beside him, belly expanded, in a fish-induced stupor. It was the fourth day Lucy had been gone so she should be coming back today. After Lucy had left it was revealed that Erza had won the request competition. Only then had Erza become interested in the competition. She pronounced that there would be a punishment for the losers in which she would get to choose which request they would fulfil first. Mira's face had glowed with enjoyment as she knew just the request for Natsu and had passed it to the Titania. It read, "will pay anything to have a date with my beloved Natsu-kun!" The page was yellow with pink cut-out hearts and a disturbingly accurate drawing of Natsu (down to a faint scar on his arm that could only be seen from up close) holding hands with a beautiful busty girl who could be none other than the requester. Natsu had avidly complained but could not hold out against Erza so the deal was made and he had his date the following day.<p>

The requester had not looked anything like the drawing; instead she sported a stick-like figure, a long thin face and a sharp pointy nose, and a very nasal voice. For the whole day all she did was reminisce about what he had done in the games, which the boy in question found intolerably boring as he had already lived through these moments. She described his perfect facial expressions and how they had affected her soul as she watched them on the lacrima, but never deigned to ask Natsu what he had truly been thinking (for she knew his soul better than he did himself). Despite mostly tuning out the girl's droning, the experience made Natsu feel strange and impure. He itched to fight someone and be rid of the taint this woman left on his fight with the twin dragons. When watching this battle she envisioned his poetic internal conflict in deciding whether to protect Gajeel's pride by letting him fight, or his life by removing him from the arena. With this Natsu had finally heard enough and had left her there without collecting any reward. He had spent the next two days picking fights right up to the present as the restless dragon lay sprawled on the grass thinking of Lucy.

The fighting had refreshed him for the most part but as he lay there on the damp grass he couldn't help but think that Lucy held the answer to getting rid of this dirty impurity that still clung to him from that superficial woman. He decided to grab Happy and head to her apartment to check if she had returned.

* * *

><p>That morning Juvia woke up in a cold sweat, which for her drenched the mattress so that there was a puddle around her in the groove that her sleeping body made. She woke with a start and tears where streaming down her face. It was that dream again, the dream she couldn't escape from ever since the fight against the seven dragons. Every night she had to watch Gray-sama's death played over and over and there was never anything she could do about it. To think that she would have been the cause of her one-true-love's death, the thought ripped her heart in two. Didn't he know that without him her life would not be worth living? Seeing Gray-sama walking around, alive, felt like seeing a ghost. Sure, he was alive, she had come to terms with that, but he only represented one side of the coin of fate. Usually we do not get to see the other side but this time it was revealed with the gift of hindsight. Given the gift to see into the future, anyone may take the chance to alter it, but wouldn't the first path taken seem like the true, original path? The true Gray was now dead because of her, because her love for him had distracted her in the heat of battle. She would not allow herself the luxury of loving him anymore, he was far too good for her and she did not deserve his sacrifice. Juvia allowed herself to believe that her true Gray had died on that day and she would now live striving to be worthy of his life.<p>

She slowly trickled herself off of the hotel bed and drew all of the sweat and sadness from the mattress back within her. She dressed herself and stepped out of her room to continue on her latest mission.

* * *

><p>'That is it!' Gray thought, 'it was bad enough when Juvia was stalking me but now it's like I've disappeared to her! How come now that I barely see her I suddenly want to feel her presence? It pisses me off.' Gray knew this huge change in her behaviour had to have something to do with their shared vision of his death. Hell, he was still haunted by that out-of-body experience but they just had to continue on and be thankful that that hadn't happened. Just before it happened he had wanted to tell her that he thought that they made a good team and they should do a mission together sometime. He still felt that way but never got the chance to tell her as she didn't take part in any of the festivities but instead took on mission-after-mission and was becoming more and more recognised for her great power.<p>

'Fine! I will talk to her and resolve this awkwardness, it has got to be unhealthy for me to be thinking of her this much!' He felt good in knowing that this uneasiness would be resolved just when he could find the reclusive water elemental.

His first port of call was the guild's resident know-it-all Mira who told him that Juvia was on a weeklong mission in the neighbouring town of Onibus and that she would be there for at least four more days. Well this was his mission now: find Juvia, talk her out of avoiding him, and maybe help her with her mission, then that will be the end of it.

* * *

><p>Confusion and panic were the first two emotions to register for Horologium when he returned to the Spirit King's atrium, Lucy was nowhere to be seen! He turned around to see the Spirit King playing doubles badminton with Perseus against Hercules and Orion. Each of them stood fifty metres from the net as they all hit the shuttlecock with such immense force that it whirred past in a blur of white.<p>

'Ahem, hem, Spirit King,' the Clock timidly tried to get the giant's attention; it was lucky that the King could sense him because the sound came out more like a squeak. The King turned his way and peered down at him whilst not missing one shot in the game.

'Hello Horologium! How can I help you?'

'Has Lucy-sama come to see you yet?'

'Why yes she has! I've just sent her off with Cetus to see Hydra, who can tell her where Marlo is!'

Despite being a great and generous ruler Horologium felt that the Spirit King had a knack for being far too nonchalant in the direst of situations.

'Ah, well, you see, she's already spent too much time in this realm so I've come to bring her back.'

'Don't worry so much Clock! She'll be back in no time, now do you think you could referee our game? Orion keeps calling my shots out but I don't think I really trust him,' he said as he smashed the shuttlecock far into the atmosphere.

'Hey you know I can still hear you, and that one is definitely out!' Orion called from one hundred metres away.

Horologium didn't have the courage to get mad at the Spirit King so he politely excused himself and tried to think of how he could get to Hydra's home since he couldn't be ferried by Cetus. He remembered that Volans, the twin flying fish, usually played their strange games in the atmosphere around here. Yes, he was in luck, he spotted their oscillating figures above the Crescent Moon Garden, half a mile away. He ran as fast as he could and then called out to the dopey fish in the sky that were currently chasing each other's tails. 'Ahem, Volans! Volans!'

The two flying fish stopped and looked at each other, assessing whether it was the other that called to it. Finally concluding that it was in fact someone else calling their name they began to slowly bob down to the surface.

'Did I hear my name?' one said as he followed his brother toward the ground.

'I don't know, but I think I heard my name,' he was hovering just above the ground, Horologium was right in front of him but his pupils both pointed outward so he didn't see him.

'In fact you have the same name,' Horologium stated matter-of-factly. The fish was startled to find a clock had appeared in front of him. He stared at Horologium, the pupils of his big googly eyes now narrowly focused on the "newcomer".

'Bro look what I found, a talking clock.'

'I am called Horologium, and I am in need of your help.'

'Sure talking clock, we'll help you won't we bro?'

'Yeah we'll help the talking clock,' the fish were now facing one another, then one held its fin out, and the other mirrored it, then it rolled over so that its stomach pointed upwards, and the other followed as a perfect mirror. One swam backward in a loop and when they both completed the loop they banged noses. After a little more of this same charade Horologium realised they had completely forgotten about him.

'Ahem Volans will you please take me to Hydra's house?'

'Whoa a taking clock.'

'Hydra's house please.'

'Oh yeah sure hop on, we'll take you there but we won't stay, Hydra is crazy, she talks too fast for us.'

'Talks way too fast,' the other confirmed. Finally they were on their way, the fish weren't the quickest of creatures, they were easily distracted and forgot what they were doing not long after Horologium's constant reminders, but nonetheless, they were on their way.

* * *

><p>The whale Cetus proved to be a very charming mode of transport, mostly serenading Lucy with his deep melodic voice as they glided through the starry sky. Lucy was having the time of her life gazing out into the never-ending expanse of this starry world and chatting with her beloved spirits. Each of the spirits were fighting to get a word in as they pointed out the little floating islands that they called home. There were so very many spirits flying around and dotting the islands, waving to them as they passed. Cetus' back was covered in Plues that climbed all over Lucy. Leo commented that they were multiplying like mad as their stars, the "Canis Minor", were increasing in magic. Lucy had completely forgotten about her time restriction as she became lost in the timelessness of the realm. If she had been asked what a minute was while riding that whale's back she could not have answered for the concept of time was as inconceivable as the infiniteness of the universe. In this world you could be in the moment and nothing more, and at that moment she was content, euphoric and excited all at the same time.<p>

'Aaaaaand here we are,' the whale came to a slow halt on one of the sparkling floating islands, 'you know Lucy-chan you could always just stay on my back and we could float on into the stars together forever.' Lucy smiled uneasily and scratched the back of her head, 'maybe next time,' she replied. She took Leo's offered hand and he helped her down onto the solid ground. The great whale boomed in laughter at Lucy's expression and headed off to his next port. In front of Lucy and her gang stood a rather eclectic house, as if it couldn't quite decide what style it wanted to go with. It was made of coloured opaque crystal and there were three distinct styles that seemed to dominate the design. In some places the crystal was cut at meticulously precise angles and proportions that gave a harsh effect. In other places the crystal produced smooth waves and swirling spirals upon its surface. The third style was more like a lack of style for the crystals jutted out in natural forms like they had been left to grow wildly.

'Well I've only met her once but this house definitely compliments her personality,' Leo commented. Lucy couldn't understand how such a contradictory house could compliment just one personality but she found out soon enough.

After knocking on the resonant door they were greeted by three serpentine heads that sprouted from a long purple-scaled body. The left had thin glasses and black hair pulled back in a tight bun, the middle had all-knowing calm eyes with her hair tied back in a loose braid, and the right had wild darting eyes and equally wild frizzy hair pointing out at all angles.

* * *

><p>It was coming up to two months now that Lucy had been gone. It seemed a lifetime ago that Natsu had gone to her apartment to check for her the first time. He had entered her apartment his usual way (silly girl hadn't even thought to lock her window) and was greatly disappointed to find that Lucy hadn't returned yet. He had set Happy down on Lucy's bed and begun pacing the apartment and looking at the clock every ten seconds. 'She said she'd be here today,' he thought. He went to get himself some food then looked around for something to play with. He made a fun game of flinging Lucy's lacy underwear over her bedpost and became quite proficient at it. He did a few hundred push-ups, quickly showered then went to sleep with Happy in Lucy's bed. Her smell that covered the pillow made him miss her more but he went to sleep satisfied that she'd surely be back by the time he opened his eyes.<p>

Two months later and he had made a habit of sleeping at Lucy's apartment every night in case she returned. Some of the other guild members showed a bit of worry about Lucy's absence but most remarked that she was probably caught up partying with the spirits and she wouldn't be back for at least three months. This comforted Natsu a little but it didn't relieve this strange desperation he felt to see her. He had become easily agitated and wasn't as excited to go on missions as he used to be. He especially didn't take any missions that went overnight for fear that he wouldn't be in Magnolia when Lucy returned.

Currently it was late and Happy had bugged Natsu to come out to the guild, as he was intolerably bored waiting with him at Lucy's. At this hour there were often a lot of drunkards around that Natsu would be able to have a good laugh with or easily provoke into a tussle. Nastu agreed this would be a lot more fun than waiting around for Lucy. Upon entering the guild Natsu spotted Wakaba, Macao and Elfman on a table in the corner having a raucous laugh and grinned in anticipation as he walked over to join them.

'Aaaaah it's Natsu, ahaha you should've seen Elfman here's face! It looked just like a tomato didn't it!?' Macao was turned to Wakaba who was still in hysterics but managed to nod vigorously as he laughed and slapped his leg.

Natsu in his sober state didn't want to openly laugh at the giant's admittedly funny blushed complexion, so he just sat down and asked how they made him flushed like that.

'Oh we were just teasing him about his obvious love for Evergreen.'

Elfman was now looking like he was about to engage his Beast Soul but instead decided to divert the attention to the unwitting newcomer.

'What about Natsu and Lucy? He clearly can't wait until she returns, that is a man.'

'Che!' was all Natsu answered as he rested his chin on the table.

The thought of Lucy sparked the same heartbreaking loneliness that he had come to the guild seeking shelter from, what was the meaning of it? For the first time in his existence he attempted to dive down into the depths of his consciousness in search of meaning. However, after barely breaking the surface he was drowning, his mind flooded with static like water to the lungs. Thinking was hard. He tried again: 'Lucy, this clenching feeling in my chest, heartburn, off food, smelly fish, no not that. Lucy, angry, scary, Lucy-kick, pain, passion, laughter, smile, beautiful, weird, remember that time she kicked Master Jose in the balls!' The thoughts came in quick succession, whirling around his head like a surging maelstrom.

Little did he know that the three men were staring at him as his eyes were closed tight and face scrunched up as if he wanted to force an answer out of his ears. The men looked at each other and wordlessly agreed to give Natsu a few little nudges in the right direction, to "teach him how to swim".

'Natsuuu,' Macao drunkenly cooed, revelling in how amusing it will be to see the naïve boy's reactions. The dragon slayer mercifully left his tangled thoughts in the same pile that he had found them and opened his eyes to show that he was listening to the drunkards.

'Have you ever kissed a girl?'

His raised an eyebrow and replied, 'no.'

'Have you ever wanted to?'

'No.'

'Huh. Really? Why not?'

'I don't know, what's the deal? Why is it so important?' Natsu felt outnumbered and defensive like a deer surrounded by hungry wolves.

'How about Lucy,' Wakaba joined in, 'surely you've thought about giving her a kiss?' he puckered his lips and made smooching noises, 'or wanted to touch her womanly curves?' He carved out an hourglass figure in the air and both him and Macao had hearts in their eyes thinking of those curves.

'Yes,' Natsu thought, 'I do want to kiss Lucy,' his tunnel vision was in full swing and his heart shook with want, need, but why? Why did he want to kiss her? The drunks continued to carry on, completely sidetracked from their objective, but Elfman decided to take mercy and tell Natsu what he needed to hear.

'Natsu, you love Lucy, and that is truly a man.'

Love, the word was the key; the anchor that pulled Natsu down under the surface where the waters of his mind were now bright and clear. It was all love: the meaning of his obsessive protectiveness, his strange loneliness, his wanting to kiss the lips of his nakama. When Natsu came up for breath he was changed, and exhausted. Still no good at this thinking business but he'd found what he needed in the depths of his mind and hoped he'd have to go down there again.

"Thanks Elfman,' he got up from the table and the two men shared a look of understanding.

Happy floated over to Natsu when he saw him stand up and asked what they had been talking about.

'I'm in love with Lucy,' he replied contently and began to stroll back to her apartment with his hands behind his head.


	3. Ripples

Gray shot up when he heard the train attendants calling for all those stopping at Onibus to please disembark in an orderly fashion. He made a beeline for the exit and hopped off with one hand in his pocket and the other holding his rucksack over his shoulder. The city council had made the request that Juvia was currently undertaking and with luck their chambers were just across the road from the train station. Gray was met by a cheery older man who remembered Juvia in fairly vivid detail. 'You mean that exquisite siren that came a few days ago? You work with her?! Boy you're a lucky man, if I were a few years younger! She was a bit cold but I imagine that was just her professional side. You know what they say, "you work hard, you play hard", if you know what I mean, oh, of course you do, you two would play very hard I'm sure of it!' The man was all winks and nudges but Gray only had one thing on his mind.

'So, do you know where I can find her?' his shirt was off and the man was momentarily stunned but managed to eek out, 'Dewfern Forest, to the east.'

The walk to the forest took the better half of a day so Gray arrived to the forest edge when the rays of the sun hit the world at low angles with a vivid orange glow. It only then began to dawn on him that he had no clue where within the forest she was.

'Fuck, where is she?' he thought to himself as he looked over the vast expanse of long-shadowed arbours. Just as he thought this a flicker of water splashed above the tree line and he knew it was her. It was impossible to miss the particular way Juvia's water glimmered in the light; the twinkles had a vivid rainbow quality that resembled the refraction of light through a diamond. He took of at a sprint as it seemed a fair distance to where she was and he didn't want to risk her moving before he got there. A mixture of nerves and excitement coursed through him as he neared the spot. A large lake began to reveal itself in the distance where spouts of Juvia's magic continued to dance through the air. Rather than burst onto the scene like a certain dragonslayer was wont to do, Gray chose to stay back and watch as the water elemental danced through the otherwise still water. He spotted her liquid female form lazily oscillating through the water creating smooth waves over its surface. She then began to move faster, diving down into the depths until Gray could no longer see her. Seconds later she burst out of the water and time seemed to stop as her fluid body arched backward in the sky then dived back down to remerge with the lake. 'Well, here goes,' Gray thought as he stepped out of the undergrowth. His foot crunched down on a particularly rigid stick to create a loud snap and the next thing Gray saw was a sharp jet of water heading straight for his abdomen. His reflexes were only just fast enough to freeze the jet a hair's breadth from knocking him far into the horizon. Looking up, his gaze followed the long geyser of ice as it began to crumble into the lake to reveal a gleaming ice sculpture of Juvia's naked body. Still in shock and not quite comprehending the sight that befell him, Gray just stared in dumb silence at what he had created. The sculpture's face was calm yet fierce, her stance powerful, her tits round and pointed, and her legs; slightly parted.

'Holy. Fuck.' Gray breathed out. His magic gave out, as all aspects of brain functioning were lost to him. Juvia sank back into the water and quickly swam away without looking back, she was crying and confused, never had she felt so utterly exposed. What on Earthland was _he_ doing here?

* * *

><p>The waters of Natsu's long-dormant subconscious were now beginning to stir after his brief submergence earlier that night. Memories began to bubble to the surface that now took on a whole new meaning. He relived Lucy's breasts being pressed into his face on multiple occasions, and the moment her towel fell down to reveal her naked body, also on multiple occasions. He felt her magnificent breasts beneath his hands as he had innocently tried to cover them up, boy had he been daft. He lay on Lucy's bed and let the memories wash over him but they were anything but calming. He felt himself become hot and feverish. Beads of sweat covered his face and chest that was rising and falling faster with every second gone by. His head felt light, like a balloon full of hot gas; slowly expanding, taking him high up into a place where there was only Lucy and the increasing pounding between his legs. In a drunken haze he stripped as he stumbled his way to Lucy's shower and turned on the cold tap. The water turned to steam the moment it hit his skin. He braced himself with his forearm on the tiled wall and when his other hand found its mark he let out a staggered breath. His movements were fast and desperate. The sweet smell of Lucy's shower products took him to another world and when it all crashed down he sank to the shower floor and leaned his head back on the wall. In the space of one afternoon everything had changed, he knew that very second that he would never be able to look at Lucy in the same way as before. Now that the true weight of his feelings was revealed Natsu couldn't help but think that Lucy may not be entirely safe around him when she returned, whenever that may be.<p>

* * *

><p>The three feminine snakeheads bobbed up and down as they regarded Lucy and her large party. 'Um hello, my name is Lucy-'<p>

'Heartfilia, yes we know her, daughter of Layla,' the left head spoke briskly and matter-of-factly while the other two heads continued to bob up and down. The middle head then seamlessly took over the sentence in a mellow tone, 'member of the mage guild Fairy Tail and master of the zodiacs.' The remaining spoke in a disjointed hissing and her eyes darted around wildly, 'the ssspirit king, the ssspirit king he ssseems to like, really like her, like her a lot.' It sounded as if the heads were only speaking amongst themselves but they maintained eye contact with Lucy through the entire conversation.

Left: 'Yes, that he does.'

Middle: 'She has it in her blood see, Layla was known to be very kind to her spirits as well.'

Right: 'In, we ssshould ler her in, ssshe ssshould come inssside,' Hydra started slithering backward into her house and Lucy and the rest cautiously followed.

The heads continued to speak one sentence each in unison from left to right, left to right, left to right until Lucy began to feel a little dizzy.

'…and so that left me thinking, if the Spirit King looks upon her so favourably then we should also hold her in high regard, but not quite so high as Marlo.'

'Marlo! That's who I came to ask you about!' Lucy managed to get in before the next head took over.

Right: 'Our massster isss the great great great greatessst celessstial ssspirit mage there ever wasss!'

Left: 'It's no surprise she wants to ask about him.'

Middle: 'Well we could tell her how he has a beautiful wife, or how he can open ten spirit gates at once, but that may not be what she wants to know.'

Right: 'Or that he wasss asssked to be part of the ten, the ten wizard sssaints but refusssed.'

'I want him to train me! Can you please tell me were I can find him?' Lucy wanted to know all about this man but felt pushed to ask only the most crucial questions lest the heads get more carried away.

Left: 'So she wants to learn from him, should we tell her where he is?'

At this point Leo stepped forward to vouch for his own master, 'Lucy has been a kind and generous master, all of us and even the spirit king believe she is ready to take the next step that very few celestial spirit mages have proved worthy of over the centuries.'

Lucy raised an eyebrow at Leo and then her whole party as they all nodded at what Leo said. There was something all of them knew but her. Virgo leaned over and whispered, 'you will understand when the time comes hime-sama.'

Middle: 'Her spirits remind us of how we feel for our master, we think he will like her.'

Right: 'then tell, we will tell her where to find Marlo and then decccide, he will decccide if he wantsss to teach her.'

'Thankyou! Thankyou so much,' Lucy didn't feel like she deserved this much love from her spirits, for all that they had done for her she should be supporting them not the other way around.

Left: 'We will go and check where he is now, he may have moved since we returned.'

Without another word Hydra disintegrated into stardust, Lucy looked around.

'Where did they go?' Lucy stood shocked.

'She must be able to force her gate open, even when it isn't an emergency, that takes a lot of magic,' Caprico told her.

A moment later Hydra reappeared in front of them.

Middle: 'He is in the city of Solaris in Stella, the Kingdom north of Fiore, our group is helping the city build their first temple.'

Right: 'He will probably ssstay there for, for, for a while but if he leavesss then he will leave a messsenger to let her know where he hasss gone.'

Left: 'He knows of her from the games and seems quite excited to meet her.'

* * *

><p>The next day, after managing to get his incapacitating emotions in line, Natsu walked cautiously toward the guild. He felt it was better to be around other people rather than letting himself be alone with these dangerous new feelings. As he neared the guild he thought that he could usually hear a general buzz coming from it but today there was nothing. He picked up speed sensing that something was wrong but when he burst through the doors it was not what he had anticipated.<p>

'CONGRATULATIONS!' Streamers and red confetti in the shape of hearts rained down on him and he looked up to see an enormous sign reading, 'Natsu loves Lucy!'

'Heeeeh?' Was all that left his mouth. Males and females alike swarmed him and everyone wanted to have their say on the matter.

'So when did you finally realise?'

'Gihihi I didn't know Salamander had it in him.'

'Lu-chan's going to get a big surprise when she returns.'

'I am very glad, you two will make a good match.'

Mira sensed his confusion and steered him to the bar to pour him a drink. 'A few of us heard you finally realise your feelings last night and we got a little excited, so when are you going to tell her?'

Natsu looked down at the table, thinking of the night just past and replied, 'when she's ready.'

The women in the room squealed and sighed. The men either looked at him wondering, 'what happened to Natsu?' or grinned with fatherly pride that he was growing up. Mira saw the concern in his face, was he worried that Lucy may reject him, that he will scare her off? Either way she knew that he must deeply care for her because this was the first time she saw him put serious thought into anything. He jumped up on the countertop, 'if anyone tells Lucy before I do I'll beat you up to a pulp!'

The guild grew quiet for a few seconds, and then began the advice-giving.

'Just tell her, then she will realise her feelings.'

'Give her a fish!'

'Take her on a romantic date.'

'Be a man!'

'A good strawberry cake is the way to a woman's heart.'

Natsu sighed; this was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p>The ripples left in Juvia's wake were all but faded away and Gray was left standing like a dumb kid with its hand stuck in the forbidden cookie jar. He was ashamed of how he had acted and for upsetting Juvia but this didn't stop the image of her naked icy form from penetrating his mind, or the downward change in his body's perfusion. 'This is going to take some time,' Gray thought as he began to walk across the lake in an icy path in the direction that Juvia had fled.<p>

* * *

><p>Horologium could feel his cogs wind tighter and tighter as his flying fish escorts continued with their idiocy. 'I think I feel something on my back, do you see anything on my back?'<p>

The clock quickly responded, 'it is me, Horologium, you two are taking me to Hydra's house.'

'You've got a clock on your back.'

His ride was now swimming in circles trying to get a good look at him, he grabbed the sides of the fish's head and pointed it in the direction of Hydra's house.

'Swim. This way. Now. Please.'

'Yes sir!' They replied and jetted in the right direction so quickly that Horologium could barely hold on.

A moment later they stopped so abruptly that Horologium was almost thrown off again. 'Clock man, how much longer until we get there?'

'Yeah where are we going again? I'm getting hungry, aw look it's old Furnax's place, he's always got some food for us.'

'It is just there, I see it in the distance, only a bit further.' Horologium pleaded.

'Old Furnax always has the best pies doesn't he bro?' They had changed direction and were heading toward old Furnax's house where colourful smoke was puffing out of the chimney.

'Hydra can give us tea,' Horologium tried to convince them.

'Eww man Hydra's tea is always either too cold, too mild or too strong,' they continued to swim toward the rainbow smoke puffs.

'Oh that is enough, thank you for the ride,' Horologium hopped off the fish's back when they reached Furnax's house and began to run across the crystal bridges between the floating islands, up winding staircases and down long slides. This area was like a labyrinth of islands, Horologium had never understood why some spirits lived in here; it was absolute mayhem. He was stopped short when he reached Hydra's island for there were no bridges at all connecting it to the general cluster. He would have to jump. 'For Lucy-sama,' he thought then leapt out into the abyss.

* * *

><p>One month following the "Natsu Loves Lucy" party, or three months since Lucy first left, Natsu seemed back to his usual self. Now and then the guild members teased him about Lucy, which was a sure-fire way to initiate a fight. Gajeel especially loved to provoke him.<p>

'Gihehe Natsu you should write bunny-girl a song to profess your love.'

'What did you say metal-butt?'

'I said that you look stupid with that lovey-dovey look on your face all the time.'

'I don't have a lovey-dovey face!'

Such was the beginning of many fights in the guild. Surprisingly Gray shrugged off the news when he returned from his mysterious mission. He and Juvia had returned to the guild together a few days before and the air about them was vaguely different. Gray was his usual quiet self but if one looked closely enough they could see that he was now the one to seek Juvia's company, not the other way around. He had an amused, almost cheeky glimmer in his eyes but the rest of his body gave away nothing. Juvia seemed nervous and constantly flushed in Gray's company. They stood together looking at the request board and Gray leaned over to whisper something in her ear. She turned bright red, quickly looked around to see that nobody was listening, took a few deep breaths then over-casually strolled out the guild door. Gray chucked to himself and slowly followed her out.

* * *

><p>Lucy and her spirits sat awkwardly on the scarce furniture in Hydra's house and sipped their tea. Lucy found hers far too mild and Leo beside her seemed to be shivering as he sipped his. Now that she had completed her objective she started to wonder where Horologium was. Just then they all heard a thud and scraping noises coming from outside. They ran toward the noise to see a pair of hands holding tightly to a spike of crystal that grew on the edge of the island.<p>

'Horologium!' Lucy yelled and sprinted to him, she held out her hand and managed to pull him up with the help of Taurus.

'Lucy-sama I am sorry I am late. The four days were up some time ago.'

'Don't worry Horologium, I'm just happy you're safe,' she embraced the clock.

'Okay everyone I've got to go back, the guild might be worried about me. Thank you for that information Hydra, I hope we meet again in the future!'

She opened a gate and stepped through to return to Earthland.

* * *

><p>Miles away a boy lifted his head off of the guild table as he sensed his other half return.<p>

* * *

><p>The sun shone brightly from her open window and Lucy noticed her bed covers all rumpled and thrown to one side, 'Natsu,' she thought. She didn't feel mad that Natsu was sleeping in her bed since she was a bit guilty for staying in the Celestial realm for too long. She looked around and felt her heart drop a little that Natsu wasn't there. All of a sudden the room became a little darker and she saw a silhouetted figure crouching in her window. Time seemed to stop for a moment as the figure looked at her; his shoulders were rising and falling from his panting. The figure stepped down and took a few purposeful strides toward her, then took her tightly in his arms. 'I'm home,' was all she managed to say.<p>

Natsu was breathing deeply and didn't speak for a while and Lucy was a little lost for words. His fingers dug into her back like they never wanted to let her go.

'Why the hell were you gone for so long?!' he said finally.

Lucy managed to step back and look into Natsu's face, when he met her gaze his eyes seemed to widen for a moment and his breath hitched before he had to look away.

'How long was I gone for?'

'Three months and seven days,' he replied, now looking at the ground.

'Oh,' she was surprised, it felt like her time in the Spirit Realm had gone by in an instant and to think more than three months were over.

'I'm sorry Natsu, I let time slip away from me,' she felt the need to hug him again, they didn't usually hug like this but it felt like the right way to apologise to her friend. She put her arms around him and he sighed and hugged her back. Her heart was warmed that he had actually missed her this much. When they separated again Lucy began to ask if she had missed anything important and fussed about her house cleaning up the mess that Natsu and Happy had made. All that Natsu could do was sit on her bed and watch her, watch the woman he loved go about all of these menial chores like she had no idea that she was the most important person in the world. Thankfully she changed out of her tight bodice and short frilly dress, although the new casual outfit wasn't much better. He'd had enough trouble keeping himself in line with an imaginary Lucy but that simply paled in comparison to the real thing. There were so many things that he was only now noticing about her and her doe-eyes were the first thing to catch him off-guard. The way her hips swung while she walked, the way her head tilted slightly to the right when she was thinking, the way her incredible breasts bounced and jiggled with every little movement. How could he be so fundamentally changed and for her barely a day had gone by? Surely she could tell that he was different but he didn't know how to act normally anymore. This made him vaguely paranoid so that he found himself awkwardly changing his hand placement, posture and amount of eye contact in a robotic dance. Though Lucy too seemed a bit changed, her face had this determined look like a woman on a mission.

'…so then they appeared back again and told us that Marlo is in Stella. To think I'm going to go to another kingdom! I've never been out of Fiore before, my father always went to other kingdoms for business but he never took me along, have you been to other kingdoms before?'

'Aaah yep I went to a few other countries looking for Igneel, me an' Igneel came from Bosco. I'll come with you.'

'Oh yeah I think I remember you telling me that once,' then his final statement registered. 'Whaa? No you don't have to come with me, I have no idea how long it is all going to take.'

'Doesn't matter I wanna come with you,' Natsu's stare was intense.

'Well okay but you can change your mind whenever you like, I think I will stay here for a week to see everyone and prepare, then start off.'

'Okay, whatever you wanna do,' Natsu was being strangely accommodating, Lucy felt that this was just him going into things without thinking as he tended to do and that he will cool to the idea after a week. She was strangely aware that he was staring at her a lot and felt strangely self-conscious that he was putting so much interest into her journey. But one thing she knew to be true was that Natsu could do anything that he put his mind to, so with him by her side she could achieve anything. Midway through this thought a blur of blue shot through her window and knocked her back onto the bed. Happy was crying with happiness to see Lucy back.

'Luuuucy we missed you! It's good you're back because Natsu,' Natsu dived to cover Happy's mouth but the cat ducked out of the way, 'Natsu has been getting skinny without all of the fatty dishes that you feed us.' Natsu didn't look like he had lost any weight so Lucy knew that this was another of Happy's sly jabs at her.

'I do not cook fatty dishes!' Now both her and Natsu were trying to catch the snickering cat as he dove through the air.

* * *

><p>The guild was alive with chatter at Lucy's possible return for there could only be one reason for Natsu to have left in such an intense hurry. Many had tried to rush after him but Mira was the first to make it to the door and she said with her demonically sweet smile, 'we should let Natsu welcome Lucy home by himself, ne?'<p>

With that everyone backed away from the door slowly and sat in anticipation for Lucy's return. Some time later when many members had become restless and moved off to continue their day, a core group still sat around the tables when the guild doors finally opened. Mira watched as Lucy stepped in with Happy on her shoulder to be greeted by an excited hug from Levy while the rest of the group gathered around her to welcome her home. Lucy looked rather perplexed by it all, Mira supposed that she probably didn't spend much time in the spirit realm so didn't grasp what all of the fuss was about. Natsu strolled in after Lucy and perched on the edge of a table. He watched Lucy as she revolved around the group sharing her story and asking about the happenings over the past three months. Mira engaged herself in listening to Lucy's story but couldn't help glancing over at Natsu whom she saw as a changed man. He looked at Lucy like she was the power that made the sun rise and fall, but beyond that, he looked contented. Lucy was his other half and now he was whole again. Behind Lucy's turned back Macao, Wakaba and even the master were making silent smooching faces at Natsu. Bickslow even joined in with suggestive pelvic thrusting movements and flickering of his outstretched tongue. Natsu's Buddha-like aura was quickly dissolved when he noticed them and he gleefully lit up his fist and vaulted himself over toward Bickslow first.

His fighting was back to the playful, foul-mouthed violence that he was known for, compared with the agitated scuffs that he was prone to over the last three months. Mira saw that Natsu was acutely aware of Lucy's whereabouts no matter how much Bickslow's puppets chased him around the hall. The red string of fate had always connected the young dragonslayer and the celestial mage but now Natsu was feeling it's light ever-present tug.

'Happy are you coming to Stella with me and Natsu?' Lucy had been asked whether her and Natsu were going on their adventure just the two of them.

Happy looked around and noticed a few almost undetectable shaking of heads.

'Oh no Lucy, I've heard they eat cats over there.'

'They do not!' Lucy had never heard of such a thing.

'You didn't know that? I suppose that's to be expected of someone that has never been out of Fiore.'

'I-is that so?' Lucy began to feel a little uneasy about going to a kingdom that ate cats. She didn't want to ask anyone else to come as it could take a long time and there was no request reward.

'I would come Lucy but I have many urgent requests coming up,' Erza didn't like to lie to Lucy but she didn't want her thinking that her friends didn't even consider joining her.

Gray then stood forward, 'I'd offer to come too but Juvia and I have only just accepted an important request.' Lucy looked from Gray to Juvia and back again and saw how comfortable they looked standing so close together. 'What has happened between those two?' She thought.

'That's okay you guys, it'll be alright just me and Natsu, and I've got all of my spirits to keep us company too.' Her friends fervently nodded and offered their support for her and Natsu's journey. Mira could see that the girls were just about bursting with the information that they had over Lucy, she herself had already thought up a million-and-one different ways to push the pair together but it turned out that Natsu was already onto it. She was honestly a little disappointed that she wouldn't get the chance to meddle but this seemed like the most natural way. Judging by the way that Natsu was acting she could see a beautiful slow-burning romance unfold between the two friends. One that didn't just spark up in a puff of black smoke and fizzle out, but one that slowly grew into a roaring blaze then settled into comfortable embers. Mira sighed at these romantic thoughts. She looked over to Lucy and thought about how, unbeknownst to her, she was really about to embark on two journeys.


	4. The Same But Different

Twenty years ago in the country of Stella, north of Fiore, high up in a sycamore tree, perched a bewilderingly beautiful young girl watching as her closest friend paced agitatedly across a branch close to hers. They made for an interesting sight whenever they were together. She, a nymph-like creature with olive skin, black hair that shone with a rich burgundy, and slanted jade eyes rimmed with thick sultry lashes. He, a bandy-legged, buck-toothed post-pubescent teen with wiry ginger hair that stuck up as if he just stepped on a live wire. A loop of gold and silver keys jangled on his belt as he chatted away to the girl.

Below them stretched colourful tents as far as the eye could see and people everywhere, all gathered around a central dial made of a multifaceted crystal.

'Anni whatever happens tonight we must agree that we'll always be friends, no matter if our soul mates come from the other corner of Stella!'

Annika looked over to him and he was staring at her, a serious look on his face. She looked back at him but didn't give him an answer immediately. She picked a leaf off of the tree and tested the wind; the leaf was flickering toward Marlo. She shrunk herself down to the size of a thumb's nail and jumped into the leaf. She surfed the wind to land onto Marlo's shoulder then made her self just big enough so that her head reached his ear. Marlo looked away from her with his eyes rolled like he knew exactly what she was going to say.

'Will you just admit that I'm right already? We are soul mates and tonight's ceremony is just going to confirm that.' With that she leaned forward and placed a prolonged kiss on his cheek. He blushed brightly so that even his chest became red and blotchy.

'I won't admit anything, the chance that we are soul mates are one in seventy nine thousand two hundred and five, that's how many people are participating in the ceremony this year, couples are almost never joined from the same guild! And you've got to stop kissing me like that Anni, it's not healthy for either of us to be having these feelings when we're both destined for other people.'

'Well you can't get annoyed when I get to say "I told you so", c'mon the sun is starting to set, we'd better get back to our tents.'

He sighed, there was no teaching her, she was the most stubborn girl in the kingdom, he was sure of it. He watched as she held each end of her leaf and raised it above her head then jumped off his shoulder, using the up-current of the wind to guide her down to the ground. His heart ached with how much he loved her but soon enough they would both be in the arms of others, the thought made him sick to the stomach.

'Open, gate of the Charioteer, Auriga,' he hopped into the winged chariot and flew down to his own little tent. It was one hour until the opening of the ceremony, he donned his ceremonial cloak and hood then sat cross-legged in the middle of the tent to meditate; it was the one thing he knew that would keep him from breaking down. His spirits could feel his heartache and knew they had to do something about it, they had to make sure that him and Annika would find their soul's mate in each other. Marlo's strongest spirit, then known as Cepheus, knew he had the power to do something. Cepheus opened his gate and entered the tent with Marlo who didn't notice him in his meditative state. Cepheus summoned all of his power and let it all gather around Marlo as he made his spell, 'I give this man power over fate to have his choice of soul mate,' a glow flashed out of the holes of Marlo's cloak then quickly vanished. Cepheus was gone.

* * *

><p>Lucy hummed as she neatly packed her large backpack for the journey. Natsu was already packed with his bedroll and a suspiciously empty looking backpack. Whenever Lucy went to put something heavy in her pack Natsu would snatch it off her and put it in his.<p>

'Hey I can carry that!' She would snap.

'Carrying this is much better than hearing you complain the whole way,' he retorted.

At one point during the packing Natsu had become suspiciously quiet and Lucy looked up to see his eyes staring intently at her chest, she followed his gaze to see that her singlet had ridden down and most of her bra and chest were showing. Usually she would instantly cover up and throw something at the perverted Natsu but she hated to admit to herself that she usually did that out of anger because he was so unaffected by her looks. Ever since entering Fairy Tail her vanity had been constantly shot down when most of the mages her age showed no signs of attraction toward her, the older guild members didn't count. Now her vanity stretched out like a cat after a long nap and whispered to her in her thoughts, 'it looked like Natsu was just admiring your chest, you've still got it after all!' Her rational self hastily replied, 'no surely not, Natsu has never looked at me like that in all the time I've known him,' her vanity sat back and continued to wave its tail. Meanwhile Natsu's mind was in a flurry of its own having realised Lucy caught him staring at her breasts, he blurted out something, he was not entirely sure what, to cover himself.

'Lucy I can see your bra,' he taunted.

Her vanity simply shook its head and curled back up to dream of a better time.

'Idiot pervert!' she yelled and threw all of her neat packing at him.

With her packing finished she sat down with Natsu and showed him the map and talked through their journey. He looked sick with the sheer amount of train and carriage rides they were taking. 'You know you can still back out now,' she told him.

'No, I'm coming with you,' the thought of being away from Lucy any more was infinitely worse than all of those train rides.

Lucy had used most of her GMG winnings to convince her landlady to hold her apartment while she was gone, so with the help of Mira she had mapped out a few easy appearance requests along her journey to help her with funds that she would exchange for the Stella currency at the border. They also had to cross Natsu's homeland of Bosco to get to Stella so they would need some of their currency too. Little did Lucy know that Natsu had brought the majority of his savings, leaving some at home for Happy, but he swore to only use it if completely necessary as he knew that Lucy would want to be self-sufficient on her journey. Lastly they made one last visit to the guild to say their final goodbyes. Lucy was so busy crying and hugging everyone to notice all of the secretive whispers in Natsu's ears and violent pats on the back.

At last they were on their way. Lucy hummed as they walked along the familiar streets of Magnolia, she took extra care to take in all of the details since she didn't know how long it would be until she saw the cute candy spiral above the bakery, or shared a few words with the worried boatmen. Meanwhile Natsu was experiencing something altogether different. He felt as if he was carrying a sloshing tub of his feelings over his head and he couldn't believe that Lucy couldn't see it. He was just twitching to pour the overflowing feelings right on top of her head and be over with it; just yell it in her ear for all of the world to know and he almost does it a multitude of times. He had rarely ever felt the need to restrain himself before and it was an itchy feeling that he didn't like at all. His fingers clawed resisting the urge to hold her hand swinging so closely to his. He used to be able to grasp her hand and pull her along behind him to the nearest restaurant but now all he wanted to do was hold it to feel her soft fingers intertwined with his. His thoughts kept coming back to the same repetitive heart-clenching ideals, 'argh she is so damn beautiful dammit I just wanna kiss 'er, I could just pull her into that alley and smooch her up against that wall.' The thought of pressing his body into hers made him let out a constipated breath. 'Stupid brain better get a hold of yerself soon or I'll have something more physical than feelings to hide!' He looked away from her and focused on the monotony of placing one foot in front of the other, left, right, left, right.

Their first stop was Onibus where they had organised to make an appearance at a local tavern called Opie's Inn to share their GMG experiences and answer questions. As they walked up to Opie's they could see posters all over the wall, "Come see Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail tonight at 7pm, 1500 jewel entry." They were an hour early so decided to check in to the free accommodation at the Inn and then get their free dinner. The foyer of the inn opened up into the bar to the left then had a wooden staircase that spiralled up to the lodging to the right. When the owner saw the two he broke into a huge grin and dodged around the counter to greet them. "Natsu! Lucy! Oh it's an honour to meet you two, I'm Hyde Opie the owner,' as soon as he said his name all of the drunks at the bar raised their tankards and shouted, 'Dopey!'

Opie sighed and straightened his glasses, 'never mind my regulars, they've been calling me that for a few months now and won't tell me why, I can't figure it out, I don't think I've done a single dopey thing in my life! But anyway shall I show you to your room?'

'Yep! Bags the best bed!' Natsu shouted.

'No fair!' Lucy frowned as they followed Dopey, ahem, Opie, up the stairs. The twin beds were exactly the same. 'Aha they're the same!'

'So you think,' Natsu felt a bit cheeky so pretended to sniff the air like there was a difference between the two identical beds then said, 'I'm taking this one,' as he jumped on the bed on the left side.

'What do you mean? What's wrong with this one?' she sniffed around the bed and didn't notice anything.

'I can assure you the linens on both beds were changed just before you arrived and there is nothing different between them,' Opie said. Lucy still glared at Natsu.

'Can we have our dinner now? I'm starving!' Natsu asked.

'Sure just come down to the bar once your ready, here are your keys and I'll be downstairs if you have any questions.'

'Thankyou!' Lucy replied. They washed their hands and faces in their ensuite, changed clothes then headed down to the bar. After ordering they sat down on one of the long trestle tables with their drinks. Everyone on the table instantly wanted to talk to them; Natsu and Lucy were having a hard time hearing all of their questions.

'Hey all of you, be respectful to my special guests, don't scare them away please!' Opie called from the foyer.

'Like we could scare away the Salamander and Stargirl!' One of them said.

'Stargirl!?' Lucy wondered if she'd been given a special name like Natsu's.

'See they're not very good at coming up with names are they?' Opie quipped from the foyer.

'Get back to work Dopey! That's what we called you while we were watching the games on the lacrima, we learnt your real name but Stargirl just stuck,' the same lanky man explained.

'Well I don't mind it,' Lucy smiled.

'She's way too nice,' thought Natsu, 'that name is terrible.' But he didn't say anything. They talked with Opie's regulars while they ate their dinner and got along with them well once they learnt how to talk one-at-a-time. Lucy and Natsu's first drink had been free with their dinner but they found that they didn't have to pay for any of their following drinks with the regulars constantly topping them up from the seemingly never-ending jugs on the table. When it finally came time for the official appearance to start Natsu and Lucy were both quite tipsy, the bar was brimming with people and the two were ushered by Opie onto a wooden platform against the wall opposite the bar.

Opie stepped up to the microphone, 'ladies and gentlemen I am excited to present my special guests Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail, the guild that went from nothing to winning this year's Grand Magic Games!' The crowd cheered.

'Thankyou for having us!' Lucy said.

'Ok to get the ball rolling I will ask the question that I'm sure everyone is hankering to know. What was the first thing you did when you got back from the games?'

'Boring!' one of the regulars shouted.

'Ok I give up, I'll hand it over to the audience then, raise your hand if you have a question.' He picked a man that had large shoulders and a small head.

'Did you train much for the games?'

Lucy answered that one and the crowd "ooo-ed" and "aaah-ed" as she described their trip to the spirit realm that robbed them of their training time. There were a few more standard questions then Opie picked a tipsy-looking young woman, 'are you two dating?' she asked.

'Nope, next,' Natsu answered rudely.

Lucy tried to cover for his sudden rudeness, 'sorry for him, no I can see how it could look that way but we're just good friends and partners on missions. Natsu and I have been close since I first joined Fairy Tail, he was the one that brought me to the guild!' Lucy smiled at the memory. As the questions continued rolling they kept sipping away at their drinks to ease their throats from talking so much. As a result they became more and more animated and exaggerating in their stories and the crowd loved them. Once the questions were finished they went around signing autographs with drunken skrawls then headed up to their room. Lucy leaned on the wall lining the stairs while Natsu hauled himself along the banister on the inside, 'you're going the long way haha,' Natsu mumbled.

'I'd get too dizzy doing your tighter circles,' Lucy slurred. It was true, despite Natsu having a 4-step lead on her he was starting to get dizzy. It had taken them a minute to get up the first flight of stairs and they were looking up at the second flight like it was a mountain. When they finally made it to their room Lucy looked at her bed then jumped onto Natsu's and ducked under the covers fully clothed. 'Hey that's mine,' he complained.

'But there's something wrong with mine, you said.'

'I didn't say anything,' Natsu replied, he longed to snuggle up to Lucy in the tiny single bed and the liquid courage urged him on. 'Looks like we both have to sleep in mine like old times.'

'You mean you slept in mine.'

'Mmmhmmm,' Natsu lifted up the blanket and sloppily slipped in next to her but immediately sobered up when he realised their position. He flopped out of the bed and crawled over into the other bed. His eyes were wide in realisation of what he had almost done. He had been dangerously close to entering into one of his fantasies as his drunken brain blurred the lines of reality. He somehow knew that if he had let the fantasy take control it would have been difficult to come back. The realisation was like a splash of cold water and as he looked over at the now slumbering Lucy he felt a pang of fear and guilt.

* * *

><p>Gray got to the edge of the lake and could vaguely see Juvia's foot tracks in the sandy bank, he shouted out to her, 'Juvia! I'm sorry! Can I just talk to you?'<p>

Juvia couldn't deny Gray's pleas completely so stopped where she was and morphed into an inconspicuous puddle then waited for Gray to catch up to her as she made a poor effort as covering her tracks. Not long later Gray arrived and when he couldn't find any more tracks he concluded that she had started covering them, or was hiding somewhere close by. Somehow he felt that she was there so he leaned against the closest tree and began talking just hoping it was reaching her ears.

'Look… Juvia… I don't know if you're there or long gone by now, but, well, it's been sort of weird not having you around at the guild, tchh,' he felt like such an idiot talking to himself like this but something kept him on. The thought that maybe no one was listening provided a chance to purge all of these thoughts from his system. 'I mean, I thought that I found it annoying, you always being close by, but since you stopped I...' he had reduced to mumbling to himself and Juvia's puddle had moved behind the tree he was leaning on so that she could hear his mumblings.

'When I told you I wanted to talk to you at the battle, I wanted to say to you that I thought we should do some missions together. Whenever you calm down from the obsessiveness I really like hanging out with you, I mean, you seem to have two different personas, when you treat me like some celebrity, how am I supposed to react to that?' He sighed, he was so lost in this forest and talking to himself, surely this had to be a whole new low for him. His eyes widened when he saw a glimmer of rainbow in the corner of his eyes. How long had she been there? He wondered, what had he said? He ran his fingers through his hair; he vaguely knew that this drove her crazy. He felt a bit sneaky now that he knew she was there but there was nothing wrong with pulling out the big guns if they were true. 'What it all comes down to is that…' he felt nervous again, he cleared his throat but it still came out like a whisper, 'I've missed you.' Juvia solidified on the other side of the tree and was bent over crying. Gray darted around the tree, he crouched down and took her into his chest, 'it's okay I'm alive, it wasn't your fault.'

* * *

><p>Their train came out from underneath the mountains to reveal the vast plains engulfing their last stop before the border crossing, Clovertown. Lucy thought to try to wake Natsu up for the incredible view but decided against it, it had taken him most of the train ride to finally get to sleep. They didn't have any more appearances planned, which Lucy was very thankful for; her face was sore from all of the smiling over the past week. They did however plan to visit their friends in Blue Pegasus who had promised to escort them to the border to see them off.<p>

When their train arrived at the station it was hard for them to miss the four matching suits, blue rabbit and tall blonde that awaited them on the platform. Natsu dived out the door the moment the attendant opened it followed by Lucy rolling her eyes as he kissed and caressed the solid ground. Lucy ran over to the Blue Pegasus team and they all hugged in greeting. Hibiki led them to their guild's magical vehicle, which was an elegant coach with horse-head and wing adornments on its front and sides. Eve and Ren managed to score the seats either side of Lucy and the rest sat across from them. Lucy noticed that Natsu wasn't complaining about changing over to another form of transportation, he was just frowning at Ren who already had his arm draped over the seat behind Lucy's head. The look didn't last long as the carriage began to move and he doubled over with his head between his legs. The hour-long ride to the border went very quickly as they all caught up on the past few months following the games. The last leg of the ride took them through a winding mountain pass until they saw a station that blocked their pass. Hibiki informed them that this border crossing was an easy one; the officers will barely check their identification especially since her and Natsu were now famous. The Bosco-Stella border however, he told them that it was well known for being very corrupt and the officers there will charge you a random fee depending on how much they like you. They said their goodbyes and just as Hibiki predicted the officer didn't even look down at Lucy's papers, just smiled and pointed toward opened the gates. The mountainous path in front of them looked no different to the one they just came from which perplexed Lucy a bit. They were in a new kingdom, surely the mountains and the rocks beneath their feet should be different not the same as she had grown up with all of her life.

'What's wrong?' Natsu asked her.

'The rocks look the same as ours,' Lucy replied.

'What are you talking about you weirdo?'

And so they set off toward the next town, waving off all of the toned, leather-skinned rickshaw riders offering them a ride to their mountain village. Natsu just laughed as Lucy kept pointing to each bird, shrub and tree remarking on how they were all just the same as in Fiore.

'Did you expect to enter a whole different planet Lucy?'

'I'm not sure, I just expected it to be different somehow.'

Natsu thought of how he was just like those rocks and birds and shrubs, appearing just the same as ever before but somehow altogether different.


End file.
